And jed foster



(No Model.)

T. S. MILLER 85 J. FOSTER. TENSION CARRIAGE FOR ENDLESS ROPE TRANSMISSION.

No. 419,208. Patented Jan. 14, 1890.

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UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS SPENCER MILLER, OF BROOKLYN, NE\V YORK, AND JED FOSTER, OF CHICAGO, ASSIGNORS TO THE LINK-BELT MACHINERY COMPANY, OF

JI'IICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TENSION-CARRIAGE FOR ENDLESS-ROPE TRANSMISSION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 419,208, dated January 14, 1890,

Application filed November 18, 1889- Serial No. 330,680. (No model.)

T 60% whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, THOMAS SPENCER MIL- LEE, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, and JED FOSTER, of Chi cago, in. the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tension-Carriages for Endless Rope or Band Transmissions of Power; and We do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

Our invention relates to that part of a ropetransmission which provides for taking the slack out of the rope by means of what is usually known as a tensimrcarriage; and it consists of an improved form of carriage con structed as shown and described in the accompanying drawings and specification.

The object of our invention is to simplify the construction and increase the efficiency and utility of the tension-carriage. e attain this object by themechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective of a rope-drive employing our tension-carriage. Fig. 2 is an enlarged end View, and Fig. 3 an enlarged side View, of the tension carriage.

Similar letters refer to similar parts thro u ghout the several views.

A is a driving sheave or wheel, receiving power from any convenient source through the shaft a.

B is a driven wheel transmitting power to drive any desired machinery through the shaft Z).

O is an idler-wheel used to change the direction of the rope F. i

D is the wheel of the tension carriage.

d is the shaft which carries the wheel D.

ff are the journal-boxes which carry the shaft (Z.

c e are hangers connected pivotally with the j ournal-boxes f f at r r.

g g, Figs. 1 and 3, are slots in. the hangers e c, for adjustment.

0 0 is a shaft or bolt threaded for the nuts h h, and carrying the roller *5, which is preferably grooved to suit the track m. The yoke or strap n serves to retain the rollerz' in position on the track on. Strap or yoke .95 serves to connect tension-carriage with rope or chain 25, which carries the weights IV.

It is usually desirable to locate the travel of the tension-wheel in rope-transmissions near the ceiling, above and out of the way of other machinery, and as heretofore constructed the tension-wheel has been mounted in a necessarily cumbersome and heavy framework provided with rollers traveling upon two parallel tracks. Such construction necessitates an extensive frame-work for supporting the tracks at a considerable distance from the ceiling.

In the use of our invention we employ a rigid self-supporting track, preferably tubular, secured in close proximity to the ceiling, and suspend the tension-wheel therefrom by hanger-arms. This suspension enables us to simplify the construction very materially and secure a delicate self-adjustment of the tension-wheel to the alignment of the rope. By reason of this gravity-suspension one supporting-track and one carrying-roller will maintain the tension-wheel in its proper position and leave it free to move bodily back and forth under the influence of the rope and weights, and as the track is cylindrical and the roller grooved. to match, the tension-wheel is free to adjust itself to any slight variations in the travel of the rope or the alignment of the track. By thus suspending the tensionwheel in a simple yoke 011 a single roller we are enabled to use a self-supporting track, and the reduced weight and friction render the tension-carriage more sensitive to the varyin g strains 011 the rope, and therefore more eflicient in taking up the slack arising from expansion and contraction of the rope and in maintaining aproper frictional tension of the 0 rope on the wheels. Incidentally this also saves wear and strain on the rope, as it makes it possible to keep the slack taken up by the use of less weight at IV. This simplified form furthermore reduces the space required for operation of carriage, and renders it possible to use it in places where the old-style carriages could not be employed.

The hanger-arms are mechanically adjustable to set the angle of the tension-Wheel to the lead or travel of the rope as it passes off of one side of the driving-Wheel onto the other side of the driven. The dotted lines in Fig. 2 of "the drawings illustrate differentpositions of the tension-wheel.

It is obvious that our invention is applicable to transmissions of various forms, Whether composed of one or more strands or transmitting power to one or more shafts.

The principal object of our invention can I be attained by fixing the tension-wheel at the proper angle in its frame or yoke and without making the hanger-arms mechanically adjustable.

Having fully described our invention, what we e1ai1.n,'and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- 

